NLP Engineer - Clearance Required

BTI360; Herndon (VA); On-site; USD 125,900 - 247,900; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully paid healthcare premiums

Performance bonuses

Tuition Reimbursement

Up to 5 weeks PTO plus 2 weeks of federal holidays

Job summary

BTI360 is looking for an NLP Engineer in Herndon, VA, passionate about transforming raw data into insights that drive strategic decision-making. You will lead the development of knowledge graphs and work with engineers to tackle complex business problems using emerging AI technologies.

The ideal candidate has over 5 years of experience in data science, deep expertise in NLP, and is comfortable working independently and in teams. The salary range for this role is competitive, along with comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• Experience in natural language processing (NLP) techniques.
• Strong scripting skills with AI/ML frameworks.
• Ability to work independently.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end knowledge graph development efforts.
• Design and evaluate extraction workflows and methodologies.
• Translate business requirements into quantitative problems.

Skills

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Data Science

Machine Learning

Knowledge Graph Construction

Python Programming

Communication Skills

Education

5+ years experience in data science or machine learning roles

Active Security Clearance

Tools

Jupyter Notebooks

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

About The Team

Here at BTI360, we’ve built a culture that’s passionate about developing software engineers. Software doesn't build itself. People do. In fact, teams of people do. That's why our primary focus is on developing better craftsmen, better teammates, and better technical leaders. By putting people first, we're not just giving our teammates more opportunities to grow, we're also raising the bar of the software we ship. BTI360 has been voted 10 years in a row as a TOP Place to Work by the Washington Business Journal.

About the Role

BTI360 is seeking an NLP Engineer who is passionate about transforming raw data into meaningful insights that drive strategic decision-making. In this role, you’ll work closely with our engineers and mission teams to tackle complex business problems using emerging AI technologies—specifically by extracting and linking critical entities to build and curate scalable graph databases and knowledge bases. You’ll thrive here if you are naturally curious, driven to ask the right questions, and energized by turning complexity into clarity. Our NLP Engineers don’t just build models, they influence decisions; they map critical relationships, shape strategy, and help our customers navigate high‑impact mission challenges.

What You Will Do In This Role

• Lead end-to-end knowledge graph and knowledge base development efforts from problem definition to production, designing pipelines that extract, normalise, link, and organise information into scalable graph-based systems.
• Design and evaluate extraction and resolution workflows using sound methodologies and fit-for-purpose metrics to assess entity extraction, linking, relationship quality, and overall knowledgebase completeness and accuracy.
• Translate business requirements into quantitative problems and communicate technical findings to both technical and non-technical stakeholders through reports, presentations, and direct customer engagement.
• Drive technical decision-making for schema design, ontology alignment, extraction approaches, and graph architecture based on mission needs, data quality, and long-term maintainability.
• Stay current with advances in knowledge representation and information extraction and introduce practical techniques, tools, and frameworks that improve graph construction, curation, and analytic value.
• Apply analytical and statistical methods to validate extracted insights, measure data quality, and support confident decision-making from structured and unstructured sources.
• Develop reports and whitepapers that evaluate solution alternatives based on impact, cost, technical feasibility, and alignment with strategic goals.
• Collaborate across teams to align on strategy, provide data science expertise, and contribute to proposals and strategic initiatives.
• Mentor junior data scientists by providing technical guidance, defining project direction, and sharing best practices in graph-oriented data modelling, extraction workflows, and knowledgebase stewardship.

Required Skills

• Active Security Clearance (Secret or higher) or the ability to obtain one.
• 5+ years of experience in data science or machine learning roles with demonstrated impact on production systems.
• Deep expertise in natural language processing (NLP) techniques.
• Experience building Knowledge Graphs using RDF or Labeled Property Graph (LPG) models, including schema/ontology design.
• Experience with Knowledge Graph construction pipelines: rule- and LLM-based NER, RE, Entity Normalisation and Disambiguation/Linking.
• Proven track record of model evaluation using appropriate metrics and methodologies for different problem types (precision/recall, silhouette scores, benchmarks, etc.).
• Strong scripting skills with experience in AI/ML frameworks (scikit-learn, PyTorch/TensorFlow, transformers) and data manipulation libraries, including proficiency with Jupyter notebooks for exploratory analysis and experimentation.
• Basic software engineering practices such as git, CI/CD, code reviews, documentation, and ability to access and leverage remote APIs.
• Comfortable working in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Excellent communication skills with experience translating technical metrics into business value and presenting findings to leadership and customers.
• Ability to work independently.
• Candidates must maintain a primary residence within a two-hour drive of Herndon, VA to support onsite collaboration as needed.

Preferred Additional Skills

• Strong Python programming skills.
• Experience with Graph RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation): hybrid retrieval across graph traversal and dense/sparse vector search.
• Experience with large or multimodal datasets.
• Experience leading technical initiatives.

Salary

The base salary pay range for this role is $125,900 - $247,900. This range reflects base compensation only and does not include benefits, bonuses, or additional pay incentives associated with the opportunity.

Benefits

• Fully paid healthcare premiums.
• Competitive salaries and performance bonuses.
• Career development and in-house training.
• Tuition Reimbursement.
• Up to 5 weeks PTO plus 2 weeks of federal holidays.
• 401K dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% annually – vested immediately on day 1.
• Giving Back: Serving communities locally and across the globe.
• Social Events (happy hours, golf tournament, BTI360 Family Festival and more).

Commitment to Fairness and Inclusion

At BTI360, we believe that unlocking the potential of others is not just a mission—it’s the heart of our culture. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where every individual can grow each day, lead with humility, and do the right thing. Our core values guide us in developing software that makes a difference, primarily serving national security customers in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate against any employee or applicant based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristics. We celebrate fairness and are dedicated to creating an environment of mutual respect and inclusion where everyone can bring their true selves to work.